From the Boston Department of Bad Timing: Mayor celebrates International Building Safety Month, then has to rush over to South Boston

Edison is a complicated project that has received extensive and, in some instances, unprecedented community input. As part of the community input many members of the community were of the opinion that safety during construction for the greater Southie community was paramount. The discussions primarily involved the existence of the hazardous materials known to be on the site, and that during the demolition (deconstruction) phase these hazards would be most likely beat risk of being released into the greater Southie community. The elected officials and BPDA taking a cue from the resident’s concerns, required Redgate Hilco to utilize a deconstruction strategy that would minimize the risk of exposure to the community. The BPDA, ISD & the elected officials made the decision that utilizing wrecking balls, dropping walls, and explosive use would pose increased risk to the community. This resulted in the deconstruction strategy being employed. It is certain that this deconstruction strategy (essentially picking apart the buildings piece by piece) would create less noise and would minimize the potential of hazardous materials becoming airborne and adversely affect the residents of Southie. But what the BPDA, ISD and the elected officials did not consider is that by requiring Redgate/Hilco to utilize this vastly more expensive and time-consuming method, they were inadvertently placing the deconstruction workers at greater risk. Piece by piece removal is inherently riskier to the workers when compared to other industry standard demolition methods. For sure the BPDA, ISD and the elected officials were acting in the best interest of Southie residents, but these actions placed the workers in a position of increased risk. It is yet to be determined by OSHA if the deconstruction contractor in any way did not follow safety protocols, task-based risk assessment plans that are in place or if the very nature of the demolition strategy imposed by the City government is what placed these workers at risk, resulting in their injuries.